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EUROPEAN DETOURS
Historical Destinations
You Will Want To
Go Out Of Your Way To
Experience
Recommendations
By
Steve
Dumolt
Introduction
If your idea of the perfect European vacation is to
spend your entire holiday running around on some island in the
Aegean Sea naked and drunk, then this book is probably not for
you. If, on the other hand, your idea of the perfect European
vacation is to spend only part of your holiday running around some island in
the Aegean Sea naked and drunk, and the rest of your time going
out of your way to discover and experience a few of the more
thought-provoking historical destinations to be found on the
continent, then you might find it worthwhile to continue
reading.
The title of this book is European Detours. It
is called that because to get to each of the destinations
described herein requires the traveler to go out of his/her way
to experience it. Granted, it is possible to construct an
itinerary that would put any of these destinations in a loop
that would make it “on the way” to somewhere else, but as a rule
a person who wanted to visit any of these sites would need to
make a conscious choice to go there. In some cases, the detour
may be only a few blocks away from other tourist sites and
entail a short walk. For others, it may require several days of
your time and significant amount of determination to get there
and back.
There are eleven destinations described here. Each
was chosen because it had struck me as someplace special during
my travels over the past 30 years. They are not just sites to
visit, take a photo or two, check off your list, and then head
to the next place. The destinations included in this book have
their own stories or particular aspects associated with them
that makes a visit more than just another stop on the itinerary.
A visit to any of these locations can justifiably be called an experience (IMHO). It
is sites like the ones in this book and the stories behind them
that have kept me coming back to Europe over the years.
This book is not a tour guide in the usual sense.
It is not a coffee table book with lots of beautiful photos. It
does not have lists of places to stay or dine. In this book I
try to describe a few sites that have appealed to me as having a
little more significance than the typical tourist destinations,
but might be considered to be out of the way. Most of them
acquired their significance because they have a connection to
the past. They are the kind of places I sought out because of
what happened in the past or because of the experience I could
create for myself by going today – or both. The descriptions are
not comprehensive but are designed to provide background and
historical information to induce the reader to further
investigate those sites he/she finds interesting.
These destinations were not chosen based on their
isolation. Some of the sites I included may be considered lonely
outposts on the edge of civilization, like Sagres at the
southwest corner of Portugal, but others are located in the
heart of traditional European tourist meccas. Three of my
suggested destinations sit in the historic center of
Rome.
While I tried to highlight destinations that
weren’t on most travelers’ itineraries, I did include some that
are fairly well known. The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran is
one of the four major cathedrals in Rome, and actually ranks
above St. Peter’s in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. La Bocca
della Verità, also in the heart of Rome, and Chartres Cathedral,
80 kilometers from Paris, can get busy when tour buses show up.
And if you have ever taken a ferry to Santorini during the
summer you quickly discovered it wasn’t exactly a deserted
tropical island.
The destinations included in this book are shown in
the figure below. Four are in Italy (including three in Rome),
three each in France and Greece, and one relatively isolated
destination in Portugal.
I discovered the destinations in this book through
different means. As I said, some of the locations are
well-known. Everyone has heard of Mount Olympus, for example.
Others I discovered while perusing tour books while planning
possible trips. (What do I want to see when I am in Rome?) Still
others I found out about through sources traditionally unrelated
to travel. For instance, I first learned about Oradour-sur-Glane
while watching a documentary on World War II.
Some of the sites exist in a condition similar to
that they have been in for centuries. Some are natural and some
man-made. Others have changed drastically since their time of
significance; some consist of mere remnants of what they used to
be -- in a physical sense, anyway. Sometimes it requires a bit
of imagination and historical insight to picture the structures
and/or activities that make these latter places attractions.
Ordaour-sur-Glane is a burned-out shell of a town, Dephi is
largely a pile of ruins, and these days Omaha Beach can be
described as a tranquil coastline with a bluff behind it.
I want to say something about photographs. Although
photos would have enhanced the descriptions of the destinations
in this book, I decided not to include any photography. I did
this for more than one reason. One, I am not a lawyer. I am not
familiar with the laws of the various countries I visited with
regard to which photos I may publish and which I may not and
under what circumstances. I did not think I am qualified to
determine which photos could be legitimately used and how for a
(hopefully) profit-making enterprise like this book. Because
this effort was supposed to be an initial exploration for me
into self-publishing, I didn’t think the expense and labor would
be justified for a short, inexpensive book. Another reason I did
not include any photos is that this is a book created to be
viewed on a Kindle. Since many Kindles do not have the
capability to display color photos or figures, I thought that
monochrome would not portray the locations in a representative
way. In the way of compensation, at the end of each site
description I have made key-word suggestions for finding photos
on the Internet and I have also placed some of my personal
photos (no strings attached) on my own web site at:
http://stevedumolt.net/EuropeanTravels.html
(If there is a legitimate objection to the
inclusion of any photo on the website, please let me know and I
will remove it.)
Many of these destinations are easier to get to if
you have your own transportation. In my travels, however, I have
used public transportation exclusively – airplanes, trains,
metros, buses, ferries, hydrofoils, and my own feet – and have
been able to access all the locations, although for most of them
not as conveniently or efficiently as if I had rented a car.
When practicable, I try to give general directions
and descriptions of approaches in the text but specific
locations, directions, and travel arrangements are left to the
reader in most cases.
Most of the distances used in the descriptions on
this book are in metric units, although English units are
sometimes included as well. You should familiarize yourself with
metric distances, especially meters and kilometers and how they
relate to English units (feet and miles). Unfamiliarity with
these measurement units will probably result in confusion and
difficulty when trying to make your way through most of the
continent of Europe. As a rule of thumb:
1 meter (m) = 3.3 feet
1 kilometer (km) = 0.62 miles
I have gone out of my way to see many sites during
my travels. Some struck a chord in me and some didn’t. This is a
collection of those that did.